Research suggests that, perhaps instinctively, people tend to prefer stability and the status quo to transformation and new ideas, even when they are personally disadvantaged as a result. The tacit approval of inequality despite its proven negative impact on society is a good example. Patrick Haack, Assistant Professor at HEC Lausanne and Jost Sieweke, Assistant Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam investigate why we think and behave this way. In doing so they provide persuasive new insights on how to change prevailing attitudes and behavior.

Diane Pierret and Roberto Steri share a keen research interest in the regulatory environment for banking as is evident from their recent co-authored paper Stressed Banks. In this Q&A, they talk about the paper, the post-crash regulatory environment for banking, and some potentially serious implications of the proposed Financial CHOICE Act in America, both for risk taking in US banking and the stability of the global financial system.

In this Q&A, Christine Legner talks about the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality (CC CDQ), the data excellence model that the consortium has produced, and the need for organisations to think about data and its management in new ways, as many corporations engage in the digital transformation of their business.

As longevity increases ensuring that people have sufficient finances in later life has become a greater challenge for governments, whether that funding provision involves the public or private sector, or a mix of both. Joël Wagner’s research focuses largely on the topics of risk management and insurance including recent work on long term investment products like life insurance savings contracts.

General intelligence is an essential characteristic for good leadership. Research by John Antonakis and colleagues on the relationship between IQ and perceptions of effective leadership reveals that a leader’s optimal IQ level depends on the average intelligence of the group being led; too high or too low leader IQ may spell disaster for the leaders.

Could capital taxes on personal wealth be part of the solution to tackling growing inequalities in society? Unfortunately, there is little research evidence to support arguments for or against the imposition of wealth taxes. However, new research shows that use of wealth taxes in the battle against global inequality is far from straightforward.

Some experts suggest that mandatory joint audits might help to improve the reliability of accounting numbers. But what are the additional costs involved and is the case for joint audits supported by the evidence?

Vaccination programs have the potential to substantially reduce the health and economic burden of many common diseases. However, vaccine uptake is far from optimal. One suggested reason for this is a general fear and mistrust of vaccinations. In their paper ‘Learning to Trust Flu Shots’ Jürgen Maurer and Katherine Harris investigate how the consumer learning process can help build trust and improve influenza vaccination use.

Transparency is usually seen as integral to corporate responsibility best practice. It allows closer scrutiny of those firms claiming CR credentials. But, if we want optimal outcomes in terms of industry wide adoption of CR practices, it may pay to tolerate a little hypocrisy at times – rather than highlighting the difference between what a firm says about CR and what it actually does.

A common criticism of economics is that economic theory often fails to predict real world events, spectacularly so in some cases. More recently, however, a more empirical approach to economics has emerged that combines economic theory, psychology, and laboratory experimentation, in order to better understand decision making in real life situations.